Flashback Coping Plan: Ground Yourself and Return to the Present Moment

About this tool

A Flashback Coping Plan is a written reminder of what to do when a trauma memory feels like it is happening again. It helps you prepare grounding actions, facts about your present surroundings, and contacts for support before distress makes decisions harder. A flashback can include a vivid image, strong emotions, or physical reactions connected to a traumatic event. Fear, numbness, and a racing heart can also have other explanations, so this plan cannot tell you what is causing your symptoms. You can use it to describe your experiences to a clinician without having to settle on a diagnosis yourself.

Preparing a flashback coping plan gives you familiar instructions to try when you feel overwhelmed. It can be hard to concentrate or decide what to do during a flashback, though the thinking brain does not literally switch off. Write the steps in words you would understand when distressed: notice what is happening, try a tolerable sensory cue, name where you are, and contact support if needed. Practice reading the plan when calm so you can find the relevant part easily. Use statements about safety only when they accurately describe the situation you are in.

The purpose of the plan is to support orientation to the present and access to help during a difficult experience. It cannot guarantee that a flashback will stop or become shorter. The National Center for PTSD includes present-focused coping suggestions in its guidance, but that guidance does not establish this worksheet as a tested treatment. Professional care can address persistent trauma symptoms using approaches such as trauma-focused psychotherapy or EMDR. A clinician can help you decide which coping steps fit your needs and whether a particular exercise is making distress worse.

Be patient with yourself. Recovering from a flashback takes time, and being gentle afterward, rest, warmth, no self-blame, is part of the plan, not an afterthought.

A flashback is different from a trauma trigger, though the two are connected. A trigger is a reminder, a sound, a smell, a date, or a place, that connects to what happened. A flashback can follow when a trigger overwhelms your nervous system's ability to hold the memory as past. Not every trigger leads to a full flashback, and learning your own triggers with the Trauma Triggers Worksheet can help you reach for this plan sooner, before one fully takes hold.

Flashbacks that happen often, or that make it hard to work, sleep, or feel safe in your body, deserve professional support. A trauma-focused therapist can assess the wider pattern of symptoms and discuss treatments such as EMDR or trauma-focused CBT, including their benefits and limitations. You can bring this plan to an appointment even if it is unfinished. The Psychology.com therapist directory can help you find a clinician. If you feel unable to keep yourself safe, call or text the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline in the US. For immediate physical danger, contact local emergency services.

Choose grounding that feels tolerable to you. The National Center for PTSD suggests keeping your eyes open and looking around to reconnect with your surroundings. You might describe the color of a nearby chair or notice the floor supporting your feet. Skip strong smells, cold sensations, or breath exercises if they make things worse. Grounding should not hurt; do not hold ice directly against your skin or try to force yourself through a distressing sensation. A quiet, ordinary object may fit your plan better.

Afterward, add a brief note about what was usable: where the plan was, which instruction was hard to follow, and whether your support person was reachable. You do not need to record details of the trauma. If you want someone to help, agree ahead of time on words they can say and whether you welcome touch. Revise instructions that do not fit your home, workplace, or physical abilities. A completed sheet is a practical reminder, not a measure of recovery or a test you can fail. You might prepare a message such as: I am having a difficult trauma reminder. Can you stay with me while I look around and get my bearings? Ask your support person in advance whether calling or texting is easier, and write down an alternative contact for times they are unavailable. Share only the parts of the plan you want them to know.

Browse the PTSD Worksheets Library for related resources. Grounding Techniques offers ideas you can try while calm, and the Trauma Triggers Worksheet can help you describe reminders you have noticed. The PTSD Test is a screening tool that may support a conversation with a clinician; it cannot establish why a particular episode happened or replace assessment.

Reviewed by David A. Brooks, PhD, ABPP, ABN
Reviewed the grounding and orienting steps for trauma-informed accuracy and ease of use during a flashback.

References

1. van der Kolk B. The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. Viking; 2014.
2. National Center for PTSD. Coping with flashbacks. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
3. Rothschild B. The Body Remembers: The Psychophysiology of Trauma and Trauma Treatment. W.W. Norton; 2000.
4. National Center for PTSD. Coping with traumatic stress reactions. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. https://www.ptsd.va.gov/gethelp/coping_stress_reactions.asp
5. National Institute of Mental Health. Post-traumatic stress disorder. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/post-traumatic-stress-disorder-ptsd

Flashback Coping Plan FAQ